Feature: 'Question of the Week Responses: Underrated Games?'

In today's main Gamasutra feature, we present the answers to the latest Question Of The Week, in which we asked the simple question of our audience of game professionals: "What videogame or games do you think have been the most underrated in terms of providing innovation or pure enjoyment, and why?" Very few of the responses from industry professionals cited the same game, but one title that received two mentions was an overlooked title from earlier this decade: "In my mind, without a doubt the most underrated game I've played is Severance: Blade of Darkness (just Blade of Darkness in the U.S.). Released in 2001, this game was ahead of its time in terms of lighting, atmosphere and AI. It is the only game where I have literally jumped at my own shadow. The computer opponents have interesting mannerisms and perform complex strategies in their attempts to chop off your head. I have still yet to play a game with as fun a combat system for melee weapons (although I have some hopes for Conan Online). The complex maneuvers, weapon styles, and class abilities made the combat an endless source of fun. In addition, the game came with a sophisticated scripting language that allowed the development of a number of interesting mods. The game is not without its flaws, but considering its almost total lack of commercial success and the enormous amount of enjoyment I received playing the game, I would say that underrated is an understatement for this game. -Michael Low, IGT" You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, including a number of other fascinating picks for relatively overlooked games (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).